KARACHI: Police and Rangers on Wednesday night claimed to have killed five suspected members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group in a joint operation carried out in the militancy-infested locality of Manghopir. Two security men were injured in the fighting.

Security personnel acting on intelligence that militants were present there cordoned off the hilly area near the Ijtima Gah. The suspects attacked security personnel with guns and crackers, resulting in injuries to policeman Zulfikar, said SSP West Azfar Mahesar.

One Rangers’ man was also wounded, said the spokesperson of the paramilitary force. In the ensuing encounter, all five suspects were shot dead on the spot.

The SSP claimed that those killed belonged to the TTP.

In a brief statement, the Rangers spokesperson said that three Kalashnikovs, two pistols and two crackers were found in the suspects’ custody.

Late on Wednesday night, the Rangers spokesperson identified three of the five dead as Umar Zada, Haider and Khalil.

“They were affiliated with the banned TTP and planning a terrorist attack in Karachi,” he said.

Meanwhile, an alleged extortionist, Yusuf Khan, was arrested in injured condition during an alleged encounter with police in Site when he and his accomplice, Ashraf, came to collect ‘extortion’ money from an industrial unit. The other suspect escaped.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2014